The four-year-old McCann went missing in Portugal’s Algarve region last summer while on vacation with her parents and younger brother. Portuguese police named her parents and a local man as suspects, but no one was charged.

The parents are still considered suspects, or “arguidos,” but family spokesman Clarence Mitchell has argued for this charge to be dropped. He has also “urged the police to hand over their files to the family’s private investigators so they can continue the search.”

The McCanns were criticized for leaving their children alone in a hotel room the night Madeleine disappeared. They were having dinner with friends at the hotel restaurant and found Madeleine missing when they went to check on the children. Evidence of an abduction or murder has been scarce and inconclusive.

The Times of London writes that the McCanns are awaiting the Portuguese police decision and told the press that they themselves will “never give up searching” for their daughter.” Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said that the police information “surely cannot sit on the shelf gathering dust” and should be handed over to the McCanns.

The Associated Press released a video report July 1 encapsulating the latest events, including the Portuguese investigators’ likely decision to close the case, at least temporarily, and release the McCanns from suspect, or “arguido,” status.

Madeleine was reported missing from the Praia de Luz resort at 10 pm on May 3, 2007 after her parents went to check on their three children. According to a May 4 Telegraph article, while dining with seven British friends at the resort’s tapas restaurant, the McCanns checked on the children throughout the evening. About an hour elapsed between the time they last checked on them and the time Madeleine disappeared.

Kate and Gerry McCann were made formal suspects in their daughter’s disappearance in September 2007. Portuguese police questioned both parents separately for many hours that month, after which the couple returned to England, remaining as suspects but permitted to lead normal lives as long as they notify the Portuguese authorities of their travel plans. An FAQ on the case from the Times of London outlines key factors examined in the case, including some of the most confusing aspects.

Madeleine’s parents, doctors from Leicestershire, England, began an international campaign after their daughter’s disappearance. The parents partnered with related organizations like the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children and have raised more than $2 million through their Web site, FindMadeleine.com.

Much of the evidence found in the case has led investigators down blind alleys. No evidence of tampering was found in Madeleine’s bedroom. Other evidence, such as hair and bodily fluids found in a rental car used by the McCanns, proved inconclusive, leading a former Scotland Yard investigator to tell CBS News that the Portuguese police team was “grasping at straws.”

In September 2007, two separate witnesses told reporters that they had seen a girl resembling Madeleine in Morocco. The McCanns were informed of the sightings before the media and traveled to Morocco to “appeal for information,” according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail. That same week, Robert Murat, the first suspect in the case, was released from “arguido” status.

Robert Murat, a British man who was estranged from his wife and daughter and lived with his mother near the Algarve resort where Madeleine disappeared, was made a suspect in May 2007. He had been involved in the case as a translator and aroused suspicions from journalists, but was released from suspect status later in 2007.

The Tapas Nine, the name ascribed to Kate and Gerry McCann and the seven friends with whom they dined the night Madeleine disappeared, have remained relatively quiet about the events of May 3, under request from the Portuguese authorities’ “strict secrecy laws,” but the group has met on more than one occasion since last May. The first meeting, in December, was reported by The Scotsman.